2017 Class AA State Boys Basketball Tournament Preview

                  2017 CLASS AA STATE BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE
                                Games played Wednesday, March 22 at Target Center, Minneapolis
6:00:  Lake City vs. Minnehaha Academy (Seed 1)
8:00:  Jackson County Central (Seed 5) vs. Annandale (Seed 4)
                                Games played Wednesday, March 22 at Williams Arena, Minneapolis
6:00:  NRHEG  vs. St. Cloud Cathedral (Seed 2)
8:00:  Breckenridge vs. Crosby-Ironton (Seed 3)

Examining the Field:  The evening portion of Quarterfinal Wednesday focuses on the Class AA tournament with two games at both Target Center and Williams Arena.  The opening game at Target Center pits the Lake City Tigers against the top seeded Minnehaha Academy Redhawks.  The Tigers return to the state tournament for the first time since 1990 after pulling off the upset of the Caledonia Warriors in the Section 1 final.  Lake City has won seven of their last seven games and faces the Redhawks, who make their first trip to Target Center since they won the 2013 state Class AA title.  Minnehaha Academy is led by one of the best freshman boys basketball players in Minnesota, Jalen Suggs.  He has been the key to Minnehaha's success at the top of the Class AA rankings for most of the season and they are one of the favorites to win the state title.

Closing the day at Target Center is a rematch of last year's Class AA semifinal game between the fifth seeded Jackson County Central Huskies and the fourth seeded Annandale Cardinals.  Last year, the Huskies lost to the Braham Bombers in the Class AA championship game. There were 11 juniors on the roster last year.  This year, all but three players are seniors.  Jackson County Central has gone 15-1 since they lost to Marshall January 17.  The Cardinals have been on an 11 game winning streak with the biggest victory coming in the Section 5 semifinals when they beat the Watertown-Mayer Royals in triple overtime.  Annandale is a young team with only two seniors on their roster.  They are Collin Howard and Jack Wilken.  Both teams have identical 26-4 records.  It should be an interesting match up.

There's also action at Williams Arena in Class AA that starts with the lone first time team the NRHEG Panthers and the second seeded St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders.  The Panthers make their first trip up I-35 to Target Center on the boys side after the girls took home the consolation trophy last weekend.  NRHEG got off to a 16-0 start before they were defeated by the Waseca Bluejays.  Both teams have identical 26-4 records.  Who will win the rematch?

Ending the day's festivities will be the battle of 26-2 teams between the Breckenridge Cowboys and the third seeded Crosby-Ironton Rangers.  It's the eighth trip to state for the Cowboys, who last played in a championship game in 1978 and lost to the Lake City tigers that had the state tournament's first seven footer who went on to play for the gophers and the Timberwolves, Randy Breuer.  The Rangers are in their 21st tournament, their first since 2010 when they lost to the New London-Spicer Wildcats.  It was the fifth time they lost in a state title game.  Crosby-Ironton is on a roll with 11 wins in their last 12 games.  Could this be the year they finally take home a championship trophy?

Next up is the Class A preview